Breakthrough Properties Secures $465M Refi for Life Science Campus

January 14, 2026

Finance News Office San Diego More West

Pfizer anchors the recently completed development.

Breakthrough Properties has refinanced Torrey Heights, its newly constructed 10-acre, 520,000-square-foot life science development in San Diego, with a five-year, fixed-rate $465 million CMBS loan. The financing was led by JPMorgan Chase, with Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs as co-lenders.

An aerial view of Torrey View life science campus — The joint venture of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital recently completed the fully leased 520,000-square-foot Torrey Heights development, with Pfizer as an anchor tenant. *Photo by Jason O’Rear, courtesy of Breakthrough Properties*

The loan will pay off existing preferred equity of $340 million, according to DBRS Morningstar. It will also fund outstanding leasing obligations totaling $21.1 million and return $97.8 million of equity to the sponsor.

The transaction comes as pharmaceutical giant Pfizer prepares to move its oncology division into 230,000 square feet across two buildings at the campus this quarter. Breakthrough preleased the entire campus before its completion in 2024. Nearly 90 percent of the campus is leased to investment-grade companies like Pfizer, with a current 12-year weighted average lease term.

Becton, Dickinson and Co., a global medical technology company, created a 220,000-square-foot innovation center in the campus’ third building for research and development. Charles River Laboratories, Actio Biosciences and Architect Therapeutics are the development’s other tenants.

Closer look at Torrey Heights

Breakthrough Properties acquired the site in the Del Mar Heights district in October 2020 and completed the LEED Gold-certified development at 11202 El Camino Real by fall 2024. The development’s co-equity partners are Mitsui Fudosan America, Investment Management Corp. of Ontario and AP2. The project’s architect was Flad Architects and Clark Construction served as general contractor. JLL is handling leasing.

The campus consists of three tenant buildings—168,300-square-foot Building A; 131,000-square-foot Building B and 220,000-square-foot Building C. It also includes an amenity building with a 400-person conference center and client clubhouse. Other amenities include multiple dining options, a fitness center and pickleball court, and storage for bikes and surfboards. The campus features more than 2 acres of open green space and courtyards.

Building Breakthrough

Breakthrough Properties, which was formed in 2019, currently manages more than $2.5 billion in assets under management with a focus on life science properties. The portfolio spans 6 million square feet in operation and in the development pipeline. The firm is a joint venture between Tishman Speyer, a New York-based global real estate owner, developer and investor, and Bellco Capital, a Los Angeles-based firm that provides debt services to life science, consumer goods, technology and real estate companies across the U.S.

In addition to Torrey Heights, Breakthrough’s San Diego portfolio includes Torrey Plaza, a three-building life science campus, also in the Del Mar Heights submarket; Callan Ridge, located in the Torrey Pines life science cluster; and Governor Pointe, a two-story life science campus in University Town Center.

Breakthrough Properties acquired MUSE, a three-building, 186,000-square-foot trophy life science campus in Torrey Pines for $159 million in February 2025 from Diversified Healthcare Trust. At the time of the sale, the property was 49 percent leased. Two of the buildings were fully leased and the third was being renovated to provide wet lab space to accommodate a variety of life science research.

San Diego’s life science market status

Dan D’Orazi, chief investment officer at Breakthrough Properties, said in prepared remarks Pfizer’s relocation to Torrey Heights, along with the competitive financing for the CMBS loan, are evidence of the flight to quality among clients, lenders and investors. He added Torrey Heights also demonstrates continued strong demand for campuses operated by top sponsors in leading life science clusters.

While San Diego continues to be a major life science innovation cluster, tenant demand was sluggish during 2025. Vacancy reached 26.5 percent at the end of the third quarter, up slightly from 26.2 percent in the second quarter and rising from 18.7 percent year-over-year, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s third-quarter 2025 Marketbeat report.

However, leasing activity remained positive in the third quarter, mostly due to Novartis signing a 16-year, 466,598-square-foot lease in July for a build-to-suit project at the Campus Point by Alexandria Megacampus. The transaction was reportedly the largest life science lease in Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.’s history. Campus Point currently has about 1.3 million square feet in operation and will have an additional 1.3 million square feet of future development and redevelopment opportunities. Alexandria is also developing a 426,927-square-foot BTS project for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. at Campus Point that could be online early this year.

The San Diego market is seeing just 1 million square feet of new life science space under construction as of the third quarter of 2025, with 61 percent preleased build-to-suit projects.